Manuscript Preparation

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

*Publish free until 31st January 2018*

Manuscripts should be written in simple, concise and grammatical UK English, within the size limits specified below for each type of article, and prepared according to the following guidelines. The manuscripts should be written for worldwide readership, including non-English speaking countries. It is therefore strongly encouraged that authors whose first language is not English have their manuscripts proofread by other colleagues, as the Editors will not send out poorly written manuscripts for external review.

Prepare the main text in a standard PC-compatible word processing program (e.g. Open Office, Microsoft Word, Mac Pages) using Calibri font size 12, double-spaced throughout, with page and line numbering, and submit as a .doc or .docx file. Text should be unjustified and have inactivated auto-hyphenation.

Greek and other special characters may be used but these should be inserted in the text (e.g. using the ‘Insert >> Symbol’ menu in Microsoft Word) and not by changing English characters into ‘Symbol’ font which may be lost during subsequent file processing. Do not use ‘Symbol’ font. Authors are strongly encouraged to consult previously published articles in this or a sister journal for styling elements (also see acceptable Styles and Symbols PDF ~82kb).

Do not embed figures, tables or any other non-textual features or footnotes in the main text body. Figures and table may be added at the end of the manuscript text or submitted as separate files. These must have a resolution of at least 300dpi.

Authors may also consult the uniform guidelines on the various ethical issues, the use of units of measurement, abbreviations and symbols, etc., set out by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors on http://www.icmje.org.

Articles should be prepared within the following limits to avoid additional charges (also see Publication Charges):

Article Type

Research Articles
Research Reports
New Methods/ProtocolsReviewsMini-reviewsNews & EditorialsMeeting Reports

Words*

4000
2500
2500
5000
3000
1000
1000

References

50
30
25
75
50
10
10

Figures/Tables**

8
5
5
8
5
1
1

*Excluding title page, figure legends and references**Including any supplementary data

Articles should be organised into the following sections:-

Research Articles (Full & Reports)

Title Page

Abstract and Keywords

Introduction

Materials and Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Statement of Competing Interests

List of Abbreviations

References

Figures/Figure Legends

Tables

Reviews and Mini-reviews

Title Page

Abstract and Keywords

Introduction

Main text, divided into subheadings

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Statement of Competing Interests

List of Abbreviations

References

Figures/Figure Legends

Tables

Protocols/New Methods

Title Page

Abstract and Keywords

Introduction

Materials

Protocol Method

Anticipated Results

Critical Parameters and Troubleshooting

Acknowledgements

Statement of Competing Interests

List of Abbreviations

References

Figures/Figure Legends

Tables

Editorials, Meeting Reports and News should not be divided into subheadings. Full contact details of all authors, including mailing address, telephone number and email should be provided.

Manuscript Sections

Title Page: The title page should provide (i) manuscript title, (ii) full names of all authors, (iii) institutional addresses of all authors, (iv) name, address, telephone, fax and email of the corresponding author and (v) running title of no more than 50 characters, excluding spaces.

Abstract and Keywords: The abstract should be comprehensive but concise consisting of no more than 300 words and should be structured to give a brief introduction to the study, main findings of the study, conclusions drawn from the study and their significance. Do not include references, headings and non-standard abbreviation. Also provide 5-7 carefully chosen keywords.

Introduction: Here authors should make a case for the study, providing a brief literature survey (avoid citing literature older than ten years, unless absolutely necessary) and background to the study, the hypothesis and the significance of the presented research.

Materials and Methods: Experimental procedures should be given in sufficient detail to allow these to be replicated by other researchers. The source of the various reagents and materials used in the study should be given, where possible.

Results: Results should be presented in a logical fashion avoiding repetition of the data and excluding material suitable for Discussion, unless the two sections have been combined. Data suitable for presentation in the form of a table or a figure should not be included in the main text.

Discussion: This section should present comprehensive analysis of the results in the light of any previous research. Discussion may also be combined with results.

Conclusions: Here provide main conclusions of the study, preferably in a bulleted form.

Acknowledgements: The authors should first acknowledge the source of funding for the research presented in their article followed by any personal credits.

Statement of Competing Interests: Include an explicit disclosure of any competing interests (financial or others) that may have influenced the study or the conclusions drawn from the study. If none, state ‘the authors have no competing interests’.

List of Abbreviations: Define all non-standard abbreviations in parenthesis on their first appearance in the text. In addition, provide a list of all abbreviations used in the manuscript.

References: Authors must ensure that all references are cited accurately and those in the main text body are also included in the list of references and vice versa. Standard abbreviations should be used for journal names. References older than ten years should only be cited if absolutely necessary.

Personal communications should be cited as sparingly as possible and, where used, should be accompanied by written authorisation from the provider of the information. Furthermore, citation of web resources/websites is strongly discouraged. Manuscripts in preparation or submitted for publication, but not yet accepted, should only be included in the main text as ‘in preparation’ or ‘submitted’.

In the main text, cite references in chronological order. Separate two or more citations by a semicolon and append a lowercase letter to the year to distinguish between two or more citations from the same authorship, in the order in which they appear in the list of references. Cite the references using the following format:-

Figure Legends: Figure legends should be comprehensive but concise and should not duplicate information given in the main text. They should be included in the main text file after References.

Figures/Line Drawings: These must be prepared electronically in a PC-compatible program in actual publication size and should be supplied in editable .ppt/.pptx, .eps, or .tiff format. Single column figures (ca. 8 cm wide) are most preferable unless such dimensions seriously impair quality and make data difficult to follow. Multipart figures must not have more than 5 parts and must fit into a single journal page. Images should be optimised and must not exceed 20MB in size. At the initial manuscript submission stage, combine all figures into a single file (e.g., a Word or PowerPoint file). Figures will be published in the size provided by the authors unless otherwise agreed. For labelling figures, use Verdana or Calibri, font size 10. Label parts of figures with capital letters (Verdana or Calibri, font size 12,bold). Use the same labelling style for all figures. High quality figures (.eps; min 600dpi) in an editable format (e.g., .eps) will be required at the publication stage.

Colour figures are welcomed for online publication; however, the costs of hardcopy reprints of coloured pages will be borne by the authors, and, unless critical for understanding of the data, may not be reproduced as colour in hardcopies of the Journal (if any).

A charge will be made to authors if figures or line drawings are of insufficient quality and standard and have to be re-drawn by the Publisher (see Publication Charges). Authors are generally notified of this at the time of manuscript revision.

Tables: Large tables are discouraged unless they are vital for proper tabulation and understanding of data. However, tables must not be larger than a single page and be prepared in ‘potrait’ orientation, and MUST NOT BE DIVIDED INTO SUB-TABLES (i.e., Table 1A, 1B etc). Tables should complement, but not repeat, information given in the main text. Each table should be given on a separate page with a comprehensive but concise legend on the top. Give appropriate units for each column, where possible, and define any abbreviations in footnotes.

Sequence Information: Submit DNA/protein sequences to appropriate databases and provide electronic link to the specific databases and the accession numbers of the submitted sequences.

Copyright Permissions: Please ensure that you have obtained permission for reproduction of any previously published figures, tables, any other objects or textual materials included in your manuscript from the original copyright owner. Such responsibility lies entirely with the authors and the Publisher or the Journal will not be liable for infringement of anyone’s copyright or other rights by the authors.

Submit a Video Summary of Your Article: Authors of published articles, or those accepted for publication, in the journal are invited to submit a short video summary (no longer than 3-4 minutes) of their article in simple terms. There is no extra charge for submitting videos.

While preparing the videos please ensure that:

The medium of narration of the main video is English (however, additional videos in other language(s) may also be provided).

Each video is smaller than 50MB in size.

The narrator may or may not be one of the co-authors of the article. The authors are responsible for providing the final version of the video, which will not be edited by the Publisher. All videos will be subject to approval by the journal Executive Editors and the Publisher.